Etymograph

English

naeve

Naeve comes from Latin naevus ‘birthmark’, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁iwós ‘native’, and ultimately from *ǵenh₁- ‘to beget’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-1‘to beget’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵn̥h₁iwós1‘native’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnaevus2‘birthmark’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1649naeve2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin naevus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English naeve
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1649, John Dryden: “Was there no milder way but the smallpox; The…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-Wiktionary, Latin naevus‘to beget’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵn̥h₁iwósWiktionary, Latin naevus‘native’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnaevusWiktionary, English naeve‘birthmark’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1649naeveWiktionary, English naeve. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1649, John Dryden: “Was there no milder way but the smallpox; The…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to beget’

general, kind, king, german, engine, generation, nature, nation, gender, genuine, gene, pregnant, genius, oxygen, ken, genre, gentle, indigenous, native, hydrogen, genocide, genus, kin, noel, genital, ingenious, innate, nee, germ, naive, natal, gentile, nativity, gens, nascent, puny, nada, glycogen, genial, janata, 111 more

Today it means

noun —

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “naeve”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin naevus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- / naeve

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